# 16 Plant a Tree
Forget the Turfbuilder
Spring has finally come to the Pine Tree State, and the lawn mowing season is upon us. Maine grass knows that the season is short, and tries to rocket out of the ground in the hope (usually vain) of making a few seeds. Our grass doesn’t need any help from the modern chemical industry — in May and June real Mainers know that, even without amendments, it will be all they can do to stay ahead of the stuff.
A visit to the Home Depot garden center hints that in other states, grass might not have as much gumption. After running the gauntlet past a phalanx of grass taming machinery, you’ll find an astonishing array of fertilizers, herbicides that will kill any plant that isn’t grass, and pesticides that will kill any bug that might come near your lawn.
In America, turf grass is our biggest crop, with more acreage than corn, wheat and fruit trees combined. We use more chemicals on our lawns than on all our agricultural crops combined. We use more water to keep our lawns green than is used on any food crop. All that water washes a lot of those chemicals into our watersheds, with predictable results for downstream ecosystems. Facts About Lawn Chemicals
And then there is the climate problem:
“But all that green grass is taking carbon out of the atmosphere via photosynthesis, right?” True, but 99 and 44/100th percent of that carbon goes right back as those grass clippings rot — there is no sequestration of carbon with turf grass. A lawn fits the classic definition of an ecological wasteland — there is probably more biodiversity in an acre of the Sahara desert than in the same area of the perfect American lawn. Did I mention the fossil fuels that go into producing all those chemicals and running all those lawnmowers?
THINGS YOU CAN DO
Cut back on the chemicals. In many ways, the lawn chemical industry is like a pusher to lawn junkies — the barrage of chemicals precludes anything resembling a healthy lawn. Many home owners and landscapers apply them prophylactically, without a soil test or any sign of a problem.
Don’t buy another gas lawnmower. Emissions from these machines go largely unregulated and are many time higher than pollution from cars. When your’s craps out, get an electric next time. If you employ a lawn care company, ask them to consider electrics.
Don’t waste you lawn clippings. Get a mulching mower and let your clippings be your fertilizer. No runoff to contaminate downstream lakes or ponds.
Set your mower to cut higher. Longer grass will be healthier and better able to crowd out weeds. Reconsider you attitude on weeds — maybe they are just hard working pioneers trying to make a more diverse ecosystem.
Mow paths, not the whole lawn. If you have a large lawn, mow walking paths through it or around the edges, and let the rest grow for the season. You’ll save a lot of time, reduce pollution and provide a vastly improved habitat for birds and pollinating insects.
Water less. Reduce runoff, give an aquifer a break.
This Friday is Arbor Day (sort of)….
1872 saw the first American Arbor Day, founded by J. Sterling Morton, in Nebraska. Over one million trees were planted in the state on that day! Teddy Roosevelt gets credit for inspiring schoolchildren to help plant trees, and Richard Nixon made it a National Holiday (Nixon also brought us the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and established the EPA — how times have changed!) These days the date varies by state, but most places celebrate Arbor day on the last Friday in April.
… so go out and Plant a Tree
A single tree planted in your lawn is like an oasis in the desert. A beautiful Lacebark Elm, for example, will provide a haven for birds, pollinators and a host of other organisms. It will make your yard cooler on hot summer days, and break the wind in winter. It will remove and store some carbon from the atmosphere. If you have a big lawn, plant two. Maybe plant a lot!
Doug Hylan, Brooklin, Maine.
Atmospheric CO2 level today = 419.41 ppm. When I was born in 1950 it was 310.1 ppm. Historic CO2 Levels
“Lawns are a significant environmental problem. We put in these lawns, and we basically turn important habitats into dead zones.” David Mizejewski, National Wildlife Federation.
Great post, Doug, especially in the face of the Goliath of climate changers, the U.S. military, which as The Conversation reports, "is a bigger polluter than more than 100 countries combined. Sam Carliner makes the point on Scheerpost, April 21, 2022, that "the climate crisis is not the fault of individuals, but of the capitalist class and their institutions of violence." And there you have it, the explanation for America's failure to act decisively on the threat of climate change, mostly due to the dominance of the Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex in national affairs and because "the GOP blocked the infrastructure proposals for clean energy proposed by Biden and the Democrats," as consumer advocate Ralph Nader points out. "Except for the far too small number of authentic advocates pressing decision-makers in government and industry to 'follow the science," Nader writes on Nader.org, "the county's officials appear too resigned, too attentive to short-term campaign money and political myopia to be stewards of the people, the natural environment and the planet." According to Google, "Burning fossil fuels changes the climate more than any other human activity," yet nothing is being done politically to limit their use in impactful ways, again primarily because of GOP efforts to obstruct positive change. So it looks like it's up to small householders and communities of conscience to lead the effort toward a sustainable world. I always think of Maine as a place where folks are more inclined along "green" lines than elsewhere in America.